Anything But
by Jack E. Peace
Summary: (Cellular) After holding up the cell phone store, Ryan begins to rethink whether he's the best person to help Jessica.


Disclaimer: None of the characters belong to me.

A/N: So I just got back from seeing _Cellular _with my best friend (watch for her story later) and that was such a great movie. Probably the best movie I've seen since _The Day After Tomorrow_. So, I thought I'd write a fic based off it. Obviously, this story takes place during the movie. Please review and enjoy.

Ryan took a deep breath and steadied himself; he hadn't realized he was shaking so much until he tried to get himself under control. In on hand, he held his cell phone, listening to Jessica Martin's heavy breathing through the receiver and in the other he held the gun, which felt like it weighed several tons. Looking at the oily metal made him suddenly sick and he tossed the gun into the passenger seat, unwilling to believe that he had ever fired it. True, he hadn't shot at a person but he had still held the gun, he had still forced people to fear him and he didn't like that feeling; he didn't understand how whoever held Jessica and her son could do such a thing.

Pulling his attention from the gun, Ryan picked up the charger he had bought from the cell phone store moments before and set about unwrapping it. He thought about leaning the phone against his shoulder and chin but worried that he might accidentally disconnect from Jessica so he opened the charger with one hand, tossing aside the case.

_"Ryan_," Jessica's voice was shaking and quiet in his ear but still managed to catch all of his attention. _"What's going on now?"_

Ryan sighed, he didn't even know where to start, though he was certain that Jessica had heard the shot he'd fired. "Nothing." He answered. "I'm just plugging in the charger. Hang on." He pulled the phone away from his ear long enough to plug the charger into the bottom and into the cigarette lighter. "Okay." Ryan said into the phone once more. He sighed again, deeper this time. "What do I do know?"

_"You have to find my son_." Jessica told him quickly. "_Find him before those monsters can hurt him_."

"I've lost them." Ryan told her regretfully, wishing that he had better news to report. "I lost sight of the car."

Jessica drew in her a sharp breath and several minutes ticked by before she exhaled again. "I'm sorry." Ryan told her sincerely. "I tried, Jessica I-" He trailed off. Maybe he hadn't tried hard enough; that was a little boy, a innocent child that was in the hands of people that would shoot him sooner then look at him. He should have tried harder.

_"I know._" Jessica told him, her voice having an almost comforting tone to it. "_I know you did, Ryan. Maybe it's not too late._" But to Ryan, it sounded as though she believed that it was already too late.

Silence settled in between the two of them and Ryan pulled out of the parking lot of the cell phone store; he was amazed that no one had come out after him in all the time that he'd been sitting in his car. They were probably too afraid that the next bullet in his gun wouldn't be for the 'take a number' display. Another wave of revulsion passed through him and he swallowed, trying to push it away; he'd never pick up a gun again, he decided firmly.

"_Ryan_," Jessica spoke again, "_do you think you can find their car?_" She voice was hesitant, as if she dreaded the answer to her words.

Ryan wished that he had a better answer to give her, but he was suddenly too exhausted and frustrated to even try. "I don't know." He answered truthfully. "I have no idea." He sighed and wished that he wasn't driving down the highway, otherwise he would have banged his head against the steering wheel. "I'm sorry, Jessica, I really am. But I don't know what more I can do."

"_I don't know what more I can do._" Jessica wanted to cry when she heard Ryan's voice coming through the battered receiver that she held in her shaking hands. She could tell that he was so close, so utterly close, to absolute defeat.

"No." Jessica whispered, curling herself into a tight ball and pressing herself against the wooden beam behind her. "Don't say that." She swallowed in an attempt to quell her tears. "Don't give up, Ryan."

There was silence from Ryan's end of the line and that silence nearly made Jessica crazy; every second that passed with silence, without some solid plan that would save her son, was a second wasted. She wanted to through herself against the door, to bang her head against the solid walls that imprisoned her because there was nothing more that she could do. Nothing except give up like she had begged Ryan not to do, but giving up was seeming more and more welcoming with every silent second.

"_Why me?_" Ryan's voice broke Jessica from her reverie and she pushed all thoughts of abandoning her son and husband out of her mind. "_Why me?_" He repeated.

Jessica pressed the broken phone closer to her ear and her lips. "I don't know." She told him, though she was certain she already had. "The phone dialed at random, I-"

"_No, that's not what I meant._" Ryan interrupted. "_I just meant why, out of all the millions of people in the world, hell out of all the thousands of people in California, that have cell phones, why did I have to pick up?_"

Jessica didn't know how to answer him. "I don't know." She repeated dumbly. "But-"

"_But I'm glad that you did._" Jessica said. "_Someone else might have hung up, might have thought I was playing a joke. But not you, Ryan, you're going to save my life. You're going to save my son._"

Ryan wished that he was as certain as Jessica seemed about his ability to save her; he doubted that he could even save himself in a situation like this. It was question that had been running through his head a lot lately; he was not the most capable person and he was everything that Chloe had said he was. Why was he suddenly entrusted with the lives of people he had never met?

"I'm not the best person in the world." Ryan mumbled, almost to himself, and he knew that he was speaking for his own benefit, attempting to put aside some of his questions. "You'd be better off with someone else, Jessica."

"_No!_" Jessica shouted as soon as the words had left his mouth. "_No, Ryan, please don't hang up. I might not get anyone else, please. Don't give up._"

Ryan sighed, feeling as though his insides were being twisted by a pair of pliers. "Jessica, I don't know what else I can do." He told her. "I'll just give the phone to someone else, someone else can help you."

"_Someone else can help you._" Ryan told her and Jessica felt tears running down her cheeks. Didn't he understand that no one else could help her? If he gave the phone to someone else, even the most gullible person in the state, time would still be wasted with explanations. Time that Ricky didn't have. Time that she didn't have.

"No." Jessica cried almost silently. "No one else can help me, Ryan, please." She sniffed. "Don't leave me."

"_Don't leave me._" Never in his entire life had Ryan ever heard something as heart wrenching as what he had just heard Jessica say.

In his entire life, Ryan knew that he had always taken the easy way out; he'd be the first person to admit this and he probably wouldn't be the last. He hated to work, he dreaded going to his classes every day and the only thing he really cared about was women. It didn't matter which woman, just as long as they were willing to be on his arm and in his bed for a few months. He thought it was different with Chloe but it wasn't; he just wanted her because she was beautiful and, as of lately, because she wanted nothing to do with him.

But now, now he had the chance to do something that actually required work, something that was important and Ryan couldn't believe that he was willing to let the chance slip away. This wasn't a physics paper, this wasn't some girl who he wouldn't remember in the morning; this was someone's life and it was all or nothing. If he took the easy way out this time, people would die.

And while he might not be the best person in the world, Ryan would not let someone die because of him. He would not let someone die because he was frustrated, because he was afraid and tired. If Jessica and her son died, it was going to be because he couldn't help them anymore.

"No, I won't." Ryan promised. "I'm going to get your son back." He wished he could still sound so certain, he wished that he believed he had the makings of a hero inside of him somewhere.

For a moment, there was nothing on the other end of the line other then Jessica's muffled crying. "_Thank you._" Jessica whispered finally. "_You're going to be a hero, Ryan_."

Ryan shook his head, though he knew that the gesture was lost on her. "Thanks, but I'm anything but a hero."

"_Not to me._" Jessica told him.

Ryan wished that it were true, that he really could be a hero someday, someone that people looked up to, someone that Chloe would be proud to know. Someone that would know that they'd done something great. But maybe, maybe after he'd gotten Jessica her son back and saved her life, he could be.


End file.
